Typical Saturday Life

Today was a simple and relaxing day for me, so I took out my dSLR camera and took some more random photos of typical Saturday life in the school.

Look beyond the individuals, and look at the environment they live in -- clothing, how they do their chores, what things they have available to do them, conditions, and so forth.

Enjoy...

Doing his laundry

Washing hair, trunk, in the same tub that students brush their teeth and wash faces.

Sorting bugs and inerts out of pile of beans, which will be cooked for supper.

Dozing off, with foot protecting his precious possessions

Male students laundry hung to dry, but many students only have one or two pairs 

Typical bed bunks

Enjoying reading in solitude

Adding his clothes to the line

Bunk beds brought outside for welding repairs before Form 1 (freshmen) comes in this Monday

Senior doing serious study

Sometimes students use this faucet for drinking as well, and it came from the river (often brown water)

Painting in the Form 1 classroom before students come in

Another student studying

Staff room, lot of papers turned brown (never used), and often find water bugs scatter around if you pull a folder out from the stacks.  Each teacher is assigned to a drawer and shelf.

Clothes line in the girls dorm

I always thought it was some exotic large Africian bird, but it turns out to be common crow (all with white band on the body) that scavenges everything everywhere

All students are required to bring their own matresses (typically foam),  They are hanging them out to dry

Termite mound.  Alot of those all over the dirt grounds including our football (soccer) fields.

Waiting for chai

Our netball post and rim, whats left of it. No its not abandoned, but used often.

Having her own kettle of chai before other students have their cups

Chai is part of Kenyan (inherited from the British) life

All chairs and desks repaired and painted, ready to be used for Form 1

Clerc Classic, Kenyan Style

So we got a team together playing netball.  We practiced on our netball facility with netball post and court.

Nope.

There were nothing available, except for a rusty post and bent rim.  I was invited to accompany the the team for a large tournament.  I had the boys together to pose for a team picture.  I asked to have the netball brought in for the picture.  They brought the handball ball.  I wanted the netball ball.  But they explained that they are actually playing handball in the tournament.  Jeez, all along I thought it was netball until the very minute that we are about to depart, then find out it was an entirely different sport.  They said they practiced a lot.

Nope.

They only practiced for three days.  

But then they probably have nice balls and goal net to practice with.

Nope.

They only have one ball, and it was so worn out.  This ball was actually used as the game ball in the tournament later in the day.  There is no goal net.  We used posts for football (soccer) which is of wrong dimensions (too big, too tall).

So, we flew to the tournament site.

Nope.

Ok, we rode in the school bus.

Nope.

Oh, never mind, the school does not have any money, nor own any school wheels to use, so we rented a matatu. So we had several matatus come in to load up girls (for separate netball tournament) and boys (for handball tournament).

Nope.

Only one Matatu.  So the boys waited around while the driver took the girls to their netball tournament site, return back to the school, and picked us up.

So, we arrived at the handball tournament site.  There were nice facilities with mowed lawns, marked fields, and correct goal posts and nets.

Nope.

The grass were left tall, and some fields even have holes or dips.  They used light black court markings that seem to disappear.

So we changed into our school uniforms with matching warm up jackets and pants, with new sneakers.

Nope.

Our boys used whatever they can get their hands on.  The school provided tops, but the boys used pens to try to draw numbers on their back.  These numbers are not even visible in any of my photos.  Many boys went barefoot, some with one shoe, and some with just socks.

Because there were over 25 teams in the tournament, we played in pools of teams, and the top two teams from each pool would play in a bracket the next day.  We played three games, and we won them all.  We beat those well-dressed and well-practiced teams.

So, we had plenty of water, snacks and lunches. We had team moms pitch in on those refreshments and helped serve us.  We also had team dads pitch up tents to keep us in the shade away from the mid-day Kenyan/equator heat.

Nope.

The team did not have any water all day.  No energy bars or snacks at all.  If they needed water, they would walk behind a building and use a faucet.  We also hung around whatever trees we can find for the shade.  When we were done with our games for the day, the coach took us across the street, and treated the team a nice lunch and refreshments.

Nope.

He bought 12 loaves of bread, one for each boy.  And a bottle of soda each.  The coach and I ate with the boys.

Nope.

He gave me 500 shillings and told me to go in the hotel (restaurant) closeby and have a nice lunch.  He probably had more than 500 shillings for himself.

So, after lunch, our matatu came by promptly and picked us up and brought us back to school.

Nope.

The matatu came like 2 or 3 hours late, making us doze off and wait around under the shades from those trees nearby.  When the matatu finally came, we all loaded up, and was ready to go, only to find the matatu died.  We had to push it to start it up again.

So that wraps up our first day.  

On our next day, the matatu came in and picked us up.  We had a smooth ride back to the tournament site.

Nope.

The matatu blew a tire.  You will often wonder about the tires you see on those matatus, and they sure wear them down as much as they can, and prefer to have them blow out before replacing them.  Remember many matatus also drive on rough dirt roads through the mountains as well as on the tarmacs (black top roads).

Now armed with my dSLR camera, I played with the high speed photography and caught the boys in action.  Observe the field conditions, facility conditions, and uniforms/shoes (or lack of) worn.

Our star player taking a nap.  But when he is awake and on the court, attacking the net, it is amusing to see the goal keeper cringe and close eyes as he leaps toward them.

So after winning our way into the quarterfinals (we were in the final 8 team out of over 25 teams), we lost to a better team.  So we walked across the street for our lunch.  We had better lunch this time.

Nope.

Team were given same lunch, same 12 loaves of bread and 12 bottles of soda.  I was given another 500 shillings for my lunch.  So I went and enjoyed a good meal.

Nope.

I can not do that anymore.  I bought a loaf of bread for myself, and ate three slices with the boys.  I needed some bread to bring to home anyway.  Had water instead of soda, which I did not have for weeks at a time.

So, in conclusion, it is amusing, at least for me, to compare team competition experiences I had all those years in America, and what I had here.  I am proud of our boys for winning 4 games against those teams that clearly are better prepared and well equipped.

Typical Saturday Routine

Since I was going into Karatina town for my routine once-a-week shopping and lunch with meat, I decided to shop for some extra items for those kids I chose that had only measly possessions.

Calculator         750/=
2 Wristwatches  400/=
Girls Shoes      1700/=
Boys Shoes      1400/=
Boys Sneakers   700/=
2 Underwear      290/=
Athletic Shorts   250/=
Total                 5490/=   ($62.73)

Total Value of Smiling Grateful Kids - Priceless.

Note: the Student Fees Deposit Slip was to deposit 14270/= ($162) which pays for one student entire year of school fees (except for 2160 balance which I personally covered).  I facilitated this payment from a student's sponsor.

I need to be carful not to single out a student and show favoritism. I chose only those that are truly poor and unable to obtain basic necessities, and gave them in private (but of course it wont be private for long).

Many of you have asked how you can contribute.  I am working with two trustworthy students (female and male) and will come up with a list of items (ranging from personal to school necessities).  Then I will ask Adreine to coordinate a contribution project where people can contribute items (old but good condition, and new, and even money if you wish) and have them shipped to us.  More information on this will be posted at a later date.

Computer Lab Makeover

After four weeks of trying to raise noise on the principal, deputy principal, head of department (Mbogo), and another computer teacher (Simon) about using my technology skills, and put me in the computer lab to improve it.  I was a little (well maybe not little, but very) frustrated on their ignoring me.  Mbogo is hardly around anyway, even when its during school hours.  Simon is new to the school, so being a Kenyan, he seem to want to follow the chain of command "culture" (meaning if not told to do so, then do not do so).

So, one day, I simply decided to take matters into my own hands, and started to move some computers around.  Simon joined me immediately and worked with me throughout the project.  Mbogo noticed some activity, and walked in and tried to "direct us" but we simply ignored him.  There were so many old CRTs (they got enough flat panels), old computers that I know are not worth keeping at all, but yet they kept it for years.

I taught them "eye candy" term, meaning when visitors come in to see the lab, they may think keeping all the equipment have their "shock value" or "awe value".  It seem to work for them because most of their visitors have no clue about anything, especially that so many computers did not have any power to begin with.

I also asked the principal and Mbogo where I could put the old CRTs and stuff that, as I explained, I would "encourage" thieves to steal, which is really more of "free labor" and "free disposal" for me.  All good stuff will remain in the lab.  But they seem not able to find any space.  So, again I took my own liberty and chose the so-called KSL office (not even one piece of anything is in it, except for broken chair, table with no tabletop, and one shelves) and dumped all the CRTs and old computers. The principal and Mbogo did not like it, and said that would be temporary (sure yeah right whatever), but of course they could not tell me to haul them all back in to the lab since they loved the new makeover.

Before: 10-12 desktop computers hooked but no power, and about 10 computers still in their boxes  Tables and chairs all over the place, and only 4 working computers but infected with viruses and many unnecessary software, drowning them into near-standstill.  Getting around the lab is a challenge with lot of walking sideways around the table edges. Not shown in the picture, above the shelf on the wall, there were like 20 old CRT monitors, along with some junk.

Amanda Herrell, previous PCV that I replaced.

After: All 20 desktop computers hooked and plugged into power.  Arranged all against the walls, and the middle table used for student study space with books and paper.  Teacher can teach class, then class can turn around and work on their computers.  All computers refreshed, so they hum well.

Simon Kaiga (computer teacher) and Mbogo (head of department of one staff)

Working on now: Setting up simple peer-to-peer networking on all computers, and having all computers save their files on one master computer for backups, sharing printer from it as well.  Will set up user id and password for all teachers and maybe single one for all students so teachers can protect their files, especially exams, from students prying eyes.

When I requested a meeting with Mbogo and Simon, Mbogo appear to try to set a meeting with the principal, which was cancelled due to other conflicts, so rather than waiting around, I kept asking Mbogo to have a meeting with just the three of us so that we all are on the same page.  Mbogo kept himself invisible for several days and I finally held his hand not letting it go during our greetings (Kenyans always greet by shaking hands every morning), asking when are we going to have our meeting.  So finally we had our meeting.  I asked Mbogo to explain his plans, and whether he thought the lab (after makeover) is all finished.  He answered that he thought it was finished, and wanted to discuss about covers for these computers.  Sigh.  Then I handed him the project plan that I typed up quickly earlier, and of course he s--t in his pants.  Naturally he agreed to everything listed.  He asked for a copy for himself, and one for him to give to the principal and explain the project himself (of course let him get the credit).

But then of course, as Mdogo was doing his vanishing magic trick, the principal decided, spontaneously, to come in the computer lab.  Fortunately Simon and I were in there chatting.  She was very surprised with the makeover, and we started to talk.  I handed her my copy of the project plan (chuckling because I end up showing it to her instead of Mbogo). We all talked about each task, and she suggested some more tasks to add to the plan, making it about 16 tasks.  They include, but not limited to, additional training for teachers, web site makeover, etc.

So I am very pleased how things turn out, even though it took me 4 weeks to make something happen that required only two days.  Simon and I work quite well together, and we simply are doing our stuff on our own with or without Mbogo.